The Pakistani government is saying that 35 y/o Baitullah Masood (also Mehsud), a South Waziristan Taliban commander aligned with al Qaeda, is responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. [sify, jamestown 2006]

Baitullah calls himself a Talib and swears by Mullah Omar, despite signing a deal with the Pakistani army in February 2005, in which Baitullah and three other tribal leaders promised the government they would not support or shelter Al Qaeda terrorists.

Baitullah Masood was responsible for the first bombing at Bhutto's return to Pakistan, October 19, 2007 where 128 people were killed [Guardian, CSM].  This, one day after Bhutto was quoted in a BBC interview that Pakistan was "one of the most dangerous countries in the world."

A Taliban commander, Baitullah Masood, has threatened to deploy suicide bombers against her, but Bhutto told the newspaper that the real threat came from within the powerful military establishment.

"I'm not worried about Baitullah Masood, I'm worried about the threat within the government," she said. "People like Baitullah Masood are just pawns. It is those forces behind him that have presided over the rise of extremism and militancy in my country."

Ms Bhutto singled out as her most potent enemy retired military officers "who have fought the jihad".

"They have a lot of supporters and sympathisers within the echelons of administration and intelligence," she said.

From the Musharraf's address to FATA Jirga in Peshawar (26 Apr, 2006):

I say if you succeed we will withdraw our troops from here but I am telling you what you have to do. The foreign elements have to be expelled to curb extremism. This extremism has to be stopped, he added. He stated that previous Corps Commander Gen Safdar had signed a peace agreement with Baitullah Masood and Nek Muhammad and army halted its operations and then what did they do. They did not honour the agreement and they stabbed in the back. This was not in accordance with the Pukhtoon traditions. You also know they broke the agreement and again resorted to same activities, as a result Nek Muhammad was killed. You know what Baitullah Masood is doing now. He is telling lies. He is indulging in harmful activities, he will be dealt with. If you take action according to traditions then I will support you and the army would make a ceasefire. You should dissociate yourself from these elements.

Note my previous post mentioning Nek Mohammed, US incursions into Pakistan: Going where they won't (12/2005), where it was mentioned that the Pakistani army was continually embarrassed by the 27 y/o Taliban commander.  Baitullah Masood came into prominance after Nek Mohammed was killed by a US Predator drone.  As mentioned, Musharraf and the Pakistani army wasted no time in claiming that they killed him, contrary to the evidence.

Bhutto had said that if she died, Musharraf would be partially responsible. The responsibility she speaks of, to me, is Musharraf's consistent behavior of talking but not doing. His inability to enforce any sort of rule on the FATA area has been shown over and over again begging the question of complicity - is his attempt to navigate between internal independence and the yoke of US-UK foreign influence contributing to the instability of his country? My opinion is yes, and Pakistan is suffering for it.

Whether Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), a party formed by her father, can survive the death of its only charismatic leader and continue to pursue a transition to democracy is an almost irrelevant question.  They're already blaming Musharraf [Forbes]. Will the elections, scheduled for 01/08/2008 occur as planned? One thing is for sure, they've earned the title of most dangerous country.

Other Taliban commanders have been gunning for both Musharraf and Bhutto, which is why the the government's snap accusation of al Qaeda-linked Taliban militants as the source of Bhutto's death is not far off.  Note that with the Pakistani government, identifying the threat does not mean they're any closer to neutralizing the threat.  In some cases with Pakistani's ISI, they themselves are the source of the threat, having propped up and encouraged Taliban elements.

The Taliban had threatened to kill Ms Bhutto after she suggested that she would help American troops hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida fugitives inside Pakistan. "She has an agreement with America. We will carry out attacks on Benazir Bhutto as we did on General Pervez Musharraf," Taliban commander Haji Omar said yesterday.

Intelligence reports suggested at least three groups with al-Qaida or Taliban links were plotting suicide attacks, according to a provincial official quoted by Reuters. [Guardian, 10/19/2007]

About 57 y/o Haji Omar:

Nevertheless, despite Haji Omar's influence, he has been overshadowed by Baitullah Mehsud, another prominent leader in South Waziristan (Terrorism Focus, July 5). This development occurred because of the ethnic fault line that affects South Waziristan. The two main tribes that populate the agency are the Wazir and the Mehsud. While the late Nek Mohammed and Haji Omar are Wazir, Baitullah is Mehsud. After the death of Nek Mohammed, the Wazirs were unable to maintain leadership and Baitullah took control of the Talibanization movement there. Currently, militants like Abdullah Mehsud are working under Baitullah's command. Therefore, under the present circumstances, Haji Omar has to work under the guidance of Baitullah. According to his close associates, in order to avoid this subordinate role, Omar has maintained a low profile and for the time being is not playing an active role in the insurgency. [Jamestown, 08/08/2006]